Improvement in retorts for refining zinc



NITED TAES WVILLIAM BLAKE, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT INRETORTS FOR REFINING ZINC.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 39,625, dated August 2.5, 186'.

v tudinal seetion,of a zinc-refining furnace provided with a retort of the improved kind constituting my invention, such retort, when in accordance with my said invention, being furnished with an air-trap or cesspool of induction or one of eduction, or both, the whole being substantially as hereinafter described.

The object of myinvention is to prevent the entrance of air into a retort and the oxidation of the zinc by such air during the process of distillation of the zinc,for the purpose of separating it from the iron or other refuse matter with which it may be combined.

In covering or plating iron bars, tubes, sheets, or various other articles of iron with zinc,by means of a zincing-ba'th or in melting zinc in an iron kettle, the zinc in the bath or in the kettle is liable to and does become more or less amalgamated withiron. The amalgamation orineorporation of the iron with the zinc under such circumstances causes a serious waste of the latter metal, or renders large quantities of it unfit for use in the process of zinc? ing. By means of my improved retort the said amalgam of zinc and iron may have the zinc separated from the iron,and reduced to a state for use.

In the drawings, A denotes an elongated retort made of clay baked or dried to induration. At one end of the said retort there is an entrance or filling passage, a, while at the other end there is an eduction-passage, b.- The hole a communicates with or leads out of a trough or vessel,.c, applied to the outside surface of the end of the retort. A partition, d, extends across this trough, and has its lower edge at a level above the bottom of the trough and belowthe inner end of the orifice a. On pouring melted metal or amalgam into the trough, such metal or amalgam will run underneath the partition and rise above the level of its bottom, and flow through theorifiee a, and into the retort. The metal or amalgam which will bewithin the trough during the charging process, and after it may have ceased, will seal the orifice a in a manner to prevent the external air from passing through the trough and such orifice and into the retort. At the rear end of the retort there is also an eduction and condensing trap or cesspool,

which in part is a cistern, B, into which the discharge-passage 2) leads. A partition, c,eX- tends across the said cistern and nearly down to its bottom, and so as to separate the cistern into the chambers f 9, one which (via, f)

is covered, and the other, 9, is open at top.

The passage Zicommunicates directly with or 7 opens into the chamber f.

The retort is to be set within a furnace, O,

of which h may be supposedto represent the grate and i the ash-pit, the heat from the said furnace, when in operation, being supposed to be imparted to the external curved surface of the retort.

The retort,when properly charged with the zinc amalgam, will operate to distil the zinc therefrom, which will pass in fumes or vapors through the passage 1) and into and be condensed in the cistern B. It will rise to a level in both chambers of the cistern, and when above the bottom of the partition of thecistern, it will prevent the entrance of air into the passage 1), and also into the retort, by means of such passage.

The devicesthat is, the trough c and its partition cl, combined with the filling-orificeconstitute what I term the induction-cesspool or air-trap. There are other ways in which this cesspool may be constructed, so as to operate substantially as described-as, for instance, the fillingorifice may be arranged at or near the bottom of the end of the retort, and may lead out of a small cistern arranged on the outside of the retort and extending upward beyond thelevel at which the charge in the retort should ever be suffered to attain. the small cistern, will rise above the level of the passage leading from it into the retort, and will thereby seal such passage so as to prevent theadmission of air into and through it and into the retort while the latter may be in operation. The removal of the refined zinc from the eduction trap or cesspool may be effected by ladling it out of the open chamber The charge, by flowing into. i p

thereof, or by a tap-hole inade side of such chamber.

I claim- An improved retort consisting of an ordinary retort, A, and a trap or cesspool, as specified, or its equivalent, applied either to the entrance or exit passage of the retort, or to through one each of them, and so as to operate substan,-

tially as and for the purpose hereinbefore specified.

WM. BLAKE. Witnesses:

O. H. BEAN, F. P. HALE, Jr. 

